Undergraduate Degree Overview

The students entering the Faculty of Science of the University of Colombo may read for a Degree in the Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Industrial Statistics & Mathematical Finance. The Faculty offers two B.Sc. degree programs in each stream, namely the general degree program of 3 years duration, and the special degree program of 4 years duration.

There are 7 academic departments in the faculty; Chemistry, Mathematics, Nuclear Science, Physics, Plant Sciences, Statistics and Zoology & Environmental Sciences. These departments offer courses in 14 different subject areas. In addition, Computer Science as a subject is offered to all students in the Faculty.

The academic program of the faculty operates on a credit based course unit system. One credit is equal to 15 hours of lectures or 30 hours of practical or a suitable combination of lectures and practicals. All lectures and examinations of the course units are conducted in the English language.

There are two types of course units, academic course units which provide the foundation for various subjects and enhancement course units which provide knowledge on a wide range of disciplines that are required in today’s society. Academic course units can be either core or electives. Core units define the minimum requirement that provide a foundation of any given subject area. Elective units are subject modules offered to provide broader knowledge on various subject areas.

The academic program of the Faculty of Science is based on a semester system with 2 semesters, each of 15 weeks duration.